Screaming Pup

[pstrman]

She is fine during the day when she can have the run of the house and she sleeps for hours, but the moment we put her to bed she starts crying, 5 hours of screaming last night was a little hard to take. I think she was taken from mom to soon at 7 weeks and might be part of the problem. We have the top of the crate off and that's her bed but have a huge box around it to keep her put as we do not want her roaming the house at night and to prevent land mines and puddles. I also tried moving her bed into the kitchen and putting up a couple gate to give her more room and the same thing, more crying. I am not quite sure what to do. She may also be scared I guess and also very strong headed. Any suggestions would be great.

Bryan

[vzkennels]

If you just totally ignore her she will get over it in time but if you are giving her any kind of attentiont good or bad when she does it she will continue to do it.Try putting a plastic pop bottle filled with warm water in with her & a chew bone.I let my pups start leaving at 7 wks & don't think that has anything to do with the problem,sure she will miss her littermates for a while but that will happen at any age for a few nights.
Like the song (It Won't Last For Long.)

[pstrman]

We did ignore her for the 5 hours and thought she would have worn herself out some time during that, but will try a warm bottle. Have they chewed the water bottle?

[BigShooter]

Make certain the pup is warm enough at night.

A couple of approaches I've used:

1. Place the pup in a small crate near your bed.

2. Place the pup where it will be warm and secure but far enough away so you can't hear it well and let it scream. It'll usually quit in a few days. Do not interact with the pup at all during the night.

2a. Same thing but everyone sleeps with ear plugs in place.

3. I do not take the pup in my bed.

I prefer 2. myself. It seems to work the quickest for me.

[rkelly]

I would put her in a smaller size crate with the top on locked shut, then put her in the basement where you can't hear her. If she is whining at night and she even sees you look over she is getting some kind of attention. No water a couple of hours before bed and make sure she goes to the bathroom before bed. I would then get up every three hours or so and let her out to potty. The warm water bottle also seems to help some from my experience.

[pstrman]

No basements here in AZ, but I do have a laundry room with a door. Tonight she goes in there with a hot water bottle and the door closed. Dang when all your kids are grown you forget what it was like having a screaming kid every night. The joys of puppy hood I guess. She went out into the back yard this morning and a bird flushed, little thing came a runnin after a little yelp. LOL.

[BigShooter]

I start the potty training after they stop screaming because if the pup is screaming constantly all night and I get up to let it out I have just reinforced the screaming behavior.

JMO

[dmadis8]

I put a shirt that I wore to bed for a few nights in the kennel with the pup and that helped calm her down quite a bit.

[kninebirddog]

also turn on a radio

littleking had a pup was the same way pup is still alive a year later so is he

some pups are like that..needy i don't think it really matters for some when you take them from the litter they just don't like being alone

Try playing with the pup till they are tired before putting them in the kennel and find a sound porof room play music and let them cry if crating is going to be part of the routine

[Elroy's Bandit]

I made a mistake with my 1st gsp pup who was doing the same thing yours is. I get up for work at 4am so I decided in the middle of night 3 to bring the ittle guy in my bed to quiet him down. I was so proud of myself, within minutes he was asleep next to me. Well 6 years later, he is still in that spot every night. Stick to your guns, and be patient.
BTW- #2 gsp is right next to the other one!! The wife says it's not fair for one and not the other. The bad thing is they steal the covers.
Bill L.

[bobman]

I surrender and put them next to my bed I would rather smell a puppy than not sleep, a couple days in a row without sleep and I'm a mean crabby SOB.

Never hurt any of my dogs in the last 40 years, I probably cried for my momma when I was little too .

[56-26]

I put a blanket over the top of my crate. We also was given a blanket of the mother to keep with him in his crate. Once we started with the blanket over the crate it didnt take long for the crying to stop. We still put the blanket over his crate, he's 17 months old now. Hope it helps.

[PrairieGoat]

I place them right beside the bed in a box just a little bigger than they are, but tall enough they can't climb out. Then just as someone else on here suggested, I put an tee shirt that I've been wearing in the box with them. If they start crying during the night, I will drop my hand into the box to reassure them that we haven't left them and leave it there for a few minutes. They've always quieted down very quickly and we both go back to sleep. I think this also has a side-benefit of a little additional bonding as well. A couple of other notes....I generally won't let them go all night without going outside. For the first few nights, I will get up a couple of times and take them out (carrying them to ensure no accidents on the way out). After a few nights (and their biological clocks are synched up!), I cut back to once/night. Thus far has worked very well for me.....no whiney dogs and house-broken very quickly. Once they are house-broken (and as long as they aren't into things at night) then they can sleep anywhere they want.....outside, in the living room, or in the bed (although I beginning to think a king-size bed may be in order!).

Randy

[lightonthebay]

A bit of a variation on what has already been suggested: a hot water bottle wrapped in a terry cloth towel and a wind up alarm clock that ticks all night to mimic Mama's warmth and beating heart.

[madonna]

the first weeks the new pups sleeps with me in my bed. later it is no problem at all, to have him sleeping in his own room. the pup is afraid. it is unnatural for him to be alone without feeling someone. Greeting madonna

[Killer Instinct]

Wow, it's nice to know I'm not the only one that let's them sleep in the bed. There will be no whining & crying - almost guaranteed. The one MAJOR problem is that with two medium sized dogs, there is still NO ROOM for me with even a King sized bed. They want to curl right up against you & all you get is the itty bitty side of the bed which means that one small move on your part & you fall off...... The hubby of course has acres & acres of room - they don't curl up against him except for when I leave at 4:30am for work, they will lay on top of him & he complains he can't move..... Are my dogs socialized? YOU BET! They are a part of my family....

[Bailey]

Ya I agree scince my guy was little he slept in bed with me. Infact he would demand to be under the cover and if you didnt like it you were getting a cold nose or he would work his way under when you fell asleep.

[shags]

I've found that the more room you give a puppy at night, the more they wander around looking for you and crying. For our new 8 week old puppy we use smaller crate in another room, and shut both that door and our bedroom door, and run a fan or some other white noise thing in our room. I'm not opposed to letting a puppy sleep with us (we both prefer it) but this new guy is too leaky! I put an old towel in the pup's crate, so when he wets it's absorbed. We don't get up to let him out during the night - that is one habit we've lived to regret in the past.
These early puppy days (and nights) seem endless, but they pass all too fast

[pstrman]

Thanks for all the input, pup stayed in crate over night and slept 7 hours straight. Oh and we finally slept too!

Here is pic of the little culprit

Bryan

[BigShooter]

Hurray! That pup has the perfect expression: Who me? I'm so little & innocent how I possibly be a problem to anyone?

[Killer Instinct]

Is that an Field Bred ESS? If so, Cool! There's not enough of us on this forum, so it's always nice to see a new face!

[pstrman]

Yes she is a field bred. She is gaining more confidence each day, mom and dad are not being used for hunting but were very birdie so hopefully she will be also.

[gdog]

I'm in the same boat right now. 8 week old pup getting use to crate and house training.

Things that are making a difference for us....limited water after dinner and exercise later evening. At this point she is getting up at 3am and yelping. I let her out and right back into her crate. She'll make a fuss when I put her back into the crate, but nothing ear plugs don't fix! I'm going to let her out during the night for a while longer, then eventually cut that off as she gets a little older.

Dog prior to this pup slept in our bed. Started out just like others stated...couldn't take the howling and years later...still in the bed. This one is going to have its own bed and not crowd me out of my king sized bed.

[Bailey]

I kennel trained this dog when she was a puppy and look where she ended up. Hard to tell the old girl now after 9 years of putting birds in the bag she has to sleep on the floor. She has migrated to the spare bedroom bed and seems to like it in there. Dark, cool, and comfy what more could she want.


Funny thing is she is 27" at the shoulders and 65 to 70 pounds yet she still takes up half the room my GSP puppy did when I brought him home He was a little bed hog.

[pstrman]

I am crate training her now, but when she is fully potti trained I really don't care where she sleeps as long as it is not on my bed. When my wife take out day trip I want her in the crate for safe keeping. Last exercise and food was about midnight, just enough to hold for the night and she slept til 7 am this morning which is a huge change from just a few days ago.

[Killer Instinct]

Ahhhh..... the sound of silence......

[pstrman]

No kidding! I will never take silence for granted again. The only thing dangerous about her in the day time are those teeth. they find everything especially my hands, arms and toes. The love of puppies

[Grange]

I am still going through this with my puppy, Tico. Tico can not stand her crate, which is not oversized. She will pee in it and whine the entire time. If I put her in her crate and leave the room she will whine and cry. I've tried to wait her out only letting her out for bathroom breaks and only doing that when there is a lull in the crying. She will go for over 8 hours whining and crying. This is after her walk so it's not like she has all this pent up energy. She has damaged her crate when she tries to get out. I don't know how, but she broke the handle off top of the crate and broke a plastic screw that attaches the two halves of the crate. She still has not gotten over her dislike for the crate, but since she is becoming more reliable with the potty training I don't have to put her in the crate much anymore.

At night I crate her and put the crate in my room with the front facing my other dog, which sleeps on her own bed next to mine. In this scenario she is fine and doesn't whine or cry. She does however snore.

I think this is Karma's way of evening the score. My lab was perfect in her crate. From the first night on she never made a noise in her crate.

[pstrman]

Abby entered the crate by her self last night which was amazing. I went to get her a treat for doing so and when I got back she was out. I work with her during the day with her toys and treats to get her to associate good with the crate which seems to help. She still cries long and hard in the morning when she wakes up until I get there or she hears my voice knowing she is ok.
She does not like a gate in front of her as when I put her in the kitchen and put the gate up she lets me know she is not happy and she wants to roam. That one seems like it will take a bit of work yet. Still have a ways to go with the crate and potti training but every day it gets better.

[jbogacki76]

Good job.

Even though I am looking forward to getting another one there are some things that I'm scared about. But, in the end it is all worth it.

[Killer Instinct]

Abby entered the crate by her self last night which was amazing. I went to get her a treat for doing so and when I got back she was out. I work with her during the day with her toys and treats to get her to associate good with the crate which seems to help. She still cries long and hard in the morning when she wakes up until I get there or she hears my voice knowing she is ok.
She does not like a gate in front of her as when I put her in the kitchen and put the gate up she lets me know she is not happy and she wants to roam. That one seems like it will take a bit of work yet. Still have a ways to go with the crate and potti training but every day it gets better.

You picked a great name! Abby is my L&W below..... The B&W is Evil Emma (Hubby's dog!).... Nah, she's my baby too...

We also have baby gates up so they don't roam the entire house while we are gone. All it took was for one of them to paw at it & it fell down on top of them & scared the begeeves out of them both. They refuse to go near it, so it works!

[pstrman]

Wow, your two look like the parents of Abby. Mom is l & W and dad is b&W. Looking forward to seeing if my little one has much birdieness in her.